Oshoala Welcomes FIFA’s Decision to Pay Players Directly

Smarting from previous experience of African players having to stage protests over unpaid bonuses and allowances, Barcelona and Nigeria striker, Asisat Oshoala, has thrown her weight behind the decision of FIFA to pay 2023 Women’s World Cup incentives directly to the players’ bank accounts rather than previous practice of going through the various national federations.

Each player will take home at least $30,000 from the tournament, with all 23 members of the winning team guaranteed $270,000 as part of a $110million total prize pool at stake at the edition to be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

Five-time African Player  of the Year, Oshoala, told BBC Sports Africa yesterday that the funds going straight to players rather than federations is a major step forward. 

“I’m happy things are beginning to change and players don’t have to be dependent on their federations for income from World Cup appearances alone,”observed Oshoala who is still basking in the euphoria of winning the UEFA Champions League with Barcelona Femeni.

Africa’s most successful national side, Nigeria’s Super Falcons have been in the public eye previously after  protests by players relating to unpaid bonuses and allowances at continental and global tournaments. 

At the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, the Nigeria players threatened a sit-in protest over unpaid salaries and bonuses after their last-16 elimination by Germany. 

“It’s really is interesting to see such development because it will serve as a motivation to the players.” 

Reigning African champions South Africa are joined by Nigeria, who have been ever-presents at the event, plus Morocco and Zambia at this year’s tournament co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. 

The minimum $30,000 in direct prize money is more than twice the average salary of $14,000 for paid players surveyed in FIFA’s 2022 benchmarking report. 

With a lack of sponsorship, investment and a growing number of struggling clubs on the continent, many Africa-based footballers often rely on earnings from the national teams. 

But Oshoala, who made scoring appearances at the 2015 and 2019 World Cup tournaments, is confident the latest FIFA  distribution model, which has been endorsed by global players union Fifpro, can prevent another embarrassment. 

“It’s not always a good look to stage protests because all the players want to do is focus on the football,” the Barcelona star added. 

For the upcoming Women’s World Cup, member associations will also receive increased funding based on performance, with winners taking home $4.29million and delegations earning $1.56 millions for participating in the group stage. 

Should the African teams progress beyond the group stages, there is an increased $1.87m and $2.18m on offer for the federations in the last 16 and quarter-finals respectively. 

FIFA has made it clear to national federations that it expects that the amount retained by member associations will be reinvested in their footballing activities, including coaching staff, grassroots projects, youth national teams and women’s football capacity-building programmes. 

This move will help improve the game on the African continent, according to Oshoala, a two-time European Women’s Champions League winner with Barcelona. 

“This means FIFA will monitor these funds and make sure they’re channelled to the right places and players can also benefit from it individually,” she said. 

The tournament will begin on July 20, with Nigeria opening their campaign against Canada in Melbourne a day later before facing Australia and the Republic of Ireland in Brisbane.